Fall Festival

We had so much fun! It felt like the first time in a long time that we all just got to hang out. All of us where there, even the babies hung out way past their bedtime. There were so many games and things to bid on at the silent auction. There was a dunking booth that Alisiya nailed all three times too. (That poor little boy.)

We brought our cow girl along. She dressed herself and told me how many of her friends at school liked her outfit. Alisiya's favorite game was The Cake Walk. The way that it worked was there were numbers in a circle on the ground. The children formed a circle and all walked along the numbers to music. When the music stopped, they were to stay on a number. A number was drawn out of a basket and the person on that number could win a cake, cookies, or donuts. I have to admit, I think it was the busiest booth at the festival. There wasn't much too it, just the opprotunity to win a prize and the kids loved it. There was also a hula hoop contest that Alisiya and I participated in. They rigged it by giving me the broken hula hoop, so I was out of the game soon. The thing busted open and flew at Jerry. The twins just loved the opprotunity to be in a crowd. And my parents just liked being around the grands.

My fav part of the evening was the silent bidding on different prize baskets. I got so addicted. I felt like a shark, walking around to look and see if anyone out bidded me on anything. In the end I won (purchased) two baskets. One is a movie basket with popcorn, two movies, and lots of other goodies. The other was a Little Baker's Basket for Alisiya. It had two chef hats, an oven mit, aprons, and other goodies to bake in it. Overall we had a lot of fun together. It was good family fun!

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Updated Pics

I haven't really had too much time on my hands lately. I started working full time and now the kids are in daycare. Just when we got into our groove of the day too. I miss them so much when I'm working all day. Alisiya misses being car pickup and she really misses her brother and sister.
 
I'll take pics of Alisiya tomorrow, she has a school festival. She's dressing like a cowgirl. Yeeeh Haaahhh!
 
Here are the twins one year old pics.
 

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It worked!!!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......................Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........................Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Oh, have I been sleeping that long? I had no idea! I've been asleep since I last reported on the slee training. I guess it worked.
 
If we would only go to bed, b/c we need to now.
 
I will be reporting to a new job Monday, October 27th so I need to get my act and routine in order. I need to be leaving this house by 7:00AM with the twins. They are supposed to be starting a real daycare on Monday. That is if I don't find me another Spanish speaking sister to watch them in the next 3 days. (Dare to dream.)
 
Unfortunately, the kids have to adjust to a few new things like:
 
1. Wearing shoes. Let's just say they don't really have any. The 1st one with their's off first always helps the other to freedom from socks and shoes, so why should we buy some. OK. I went and purchased some this week.
 
2. Drinking from a sippy cup. They look like babies drinking from a bottle. I'm not ready to give it up, especially at night yet. I just need them to look like babies a little longer and look a little less like toddlers.
 
3. A whole new schedule. Didn't I saw that as soon as I got used to the Stay at Home Mom thing, I would start working. I just got them on an awesome scheudle with a 2 hour nap in the AM and a short on in the PM. All that will change soon.
 
Sounds like I'm not the one ready for Daycare.  

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Sleep Training Update

Haillee

Night Sleep Chart

Date	Bedtime or Waking	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Crying Time	Total Time
9/15	8:37pm	8:42	8:54	8:57 sleep			20 min
	9:33pm	9:40					7 min	27 min
9/16	8:00pm	8:10 sleep					10 min
	8:00 pm	8:45-9:00 crying					15 min	25 min
9/17	8:08	8:09 sleep					9 min	9 min
9/18	8:23	8:26					3 min	3 min

Sebastian

Night Sleep Chart

		Check in	Check in	Check in	Check in	Check in
Date	Bedtime or Waking	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Crying Time	Total Time
9/15	8:37pm
	9:32pm	9:40					8 min
	2:25am-2:30	Feeding
	4:55am	5:00	5:10	5:28-5:39			44 min	52 min
9/16	8:00 pm	8:10 sleeping					10 min	10 min
9/17	8:08 pm	Sleep
	5:50 am	5:55 am	Diaper change				5 min	5 min
9/18	8:23 pm
	5:45am	5:50 am	Diaper Change				5 min	5 min

I only included the results from the night time sleep training. I didn't include the daytime naps. Those are supposed to take a while perhaps two weeks. I believe that the days are the most difficult. My children respond to naps by pooing. I've always had to do a diaper change in the middle of the morning nap. Oh well.

Hey at least I feel more rested. I think the sleep training is also for Jerry and I. We now have all this time on our hands. As you can see by the charts the nights are getting better and better. Plus, we don't get them up until 7:30 am. So we have time in the morning to sleep a bit and wake Alisiya for school.

As I type the nap training seems a bit out of control. Haillee and Sebastian are in the room crying, better yet screaming (Haillee), their hearts out. I feel really bad for them, then I remember that I now can eat my lunch in peace or better yet, I just get to eat in a decent time and then everything seems worth all this fuss right now.

And now I'm off …..to where…..lunch of course.

Sleep Training

So now we are knee deep in sleep training. The twins had a great schedule until about 3-4 weeks ago. We're still not sure what happened.

What convinced us to sleep train? I never thought that I, yes I would allow my child to cry themselves to sleep. It's usually referred to as Cry It Out (CIO). I just couldn't imagine letting my children cry in the dark and be in tears if they only needed to be held or their pacifier put back in. The final straw was Sunday. We had just finished watching SNL and just as we said "Goodnight" the silence was broken. Not by one baby, but by two. Jerry had to go to work on Sunday, which he usually doesn't have to do, so I being the temporary Stay at Home Mom (SAHM) would put the babies back to sleep. They only wanted to cuddle and be held. Well I held them until 2:30 AM and then I put them in their cribs while I sat in the chair in their room. Still not content Haillee cried and cried. I tried to keep her quiet so I didn't wake everyone else in the house (at least I said that by 3:00 AM I just wanted to be rescued). They both were still up and they did so until 4:30AM. While thinking (not so clearly) the next morning I got to thinking there has to be a better way. Right?

Out came my Sleep Easy Solutions book and I announced that we were going to visit another meeting the 6PM meeting was far too late, b/c tonight we were going to begin SLEEP TRAINING. Well that night Jerry and I mapped out a definite night time routine and did the dry run. They woke up at 4:30 am the next morning. Did I mention I hadn't finished reading the book and once we put the twins down on Sunday I realized that we did it wrong. The routine was right but everything else was way wrong.

Monday night is another night. Another chance to get it right let the saga begin.


....Did I mention that I'm nervous now that I realize that I'm supposed to let my children CIO. This book isn't so cold turkey cruel. We are allowed to visit the kids, only one parent per visit for moral support. (HA!) No more than 30 seconds and no touching, no re-inserting pacifiers, no contact at all. Strictly verbal communication.

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Pool Party

We went over friends of Jerry's house and the kids had a great time in the pool. We enjoyed ourselves as well. Of course Alisiya was the last one out. Thanks Mark & Patty.
 

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Alisiya's New Do

For the 1st time ever. I've done it. I put extensions in Alisiya's hair by myself. Doesn't she look so lovely (and grown up) going to school this morning.
 

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Best of both worlds

We finally had the Hannah Montana (HM) Party! Whoo Hoo! It was so much fun (and not to mention a little stressful to plan for). We ended up having a total of 8 girls that were ready to rock. Well Aviron (Alisiya's cousin) also got sucked into the party to his dismay, but even he enjoyed himself a little. Besides, he was my right hand man. He fixed just about anything I needed. My aunt Janie and my friend Rachelle were also a BIG help in getting things ready and keeping the party going. Thanks!

We started off with the slip n slide. Every one enjoys getting wet in the hot summer sun, right? Following that fun we had a water relay. The team that had the most water in their cooler won. The test was that they had to carry a water filled cup on their head and then dump it in the cooler.

Then we went on to making some of the best door hangers that I have seen. After that everyone was ready to grub and watch an episode of, none other than, Hannah Montana. Fruits, veggies, and pizza were on the menu.

Afterwards, we had the funniest (at least I thought so) event of the party. Each girl had to get dressed like HM, walk on the red carpet and then run back and pass the outfit on to the next HM. It was so funny to see the girls dressed up.

Team A & Team B

Cassaundra

Sophia

Madision, Meagan and Madision

Then it was karaoke time and cake time. Lastly we all went outside for the hitting of the pinata. Overall I think the party was a great success.

The "Hannah Montana" Cake

Karaoke Anyone????

Picking up after the pinata

My favorite part was the reactions from the kids the youngest attendee, Sophia, told me 'Yeah, this was fun. I'd never been blindfolded before.' She was referring to the pinata hitting. LOL!

All the girls

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